I have been creating handcrafted copper fountains, art and sculptures full time since 2004 and have been on Etsy since December 13th of 2013. I began by teaching myself to work in copper, and I have been working away with it since. Most artwork was initially made from my own interests and then a lot of work was made to help people bring their ideas to life... some were and are a combination of the two. I think art made individually is never done alone since it is inspired by so many other things, ideas and other people's work. Often art is an individual process, but it can also be a symbiotic one, or both, and certainly is always meant to be shared and appreciated by others however it is created.

These aspects summarize Copper Phoenix Art's company mission: My goal and purpose as an artist are to enhance your space, and bring relaxation and enjoyment to you and others, and try to bring a little oasis from the Az. desert here to wherever a fountain or art may go. Copper is a timeless metal as it does not rust, is relatively soft and malleable, yet durable and strong to the end, making it an ideal metal and medium to work in for sculpture and fountain art. Copper is extremely conducive to color, giving a variety of hues, noted in the heat of a torch, right down to the chemical oxidation, using applied specialty liquids to achieve the beautiful blues and greens of patina. My work is produced to give you many years of enjoyment.

Basic Process and Standards:

By virtue of each piece being handmade, they take a considerable amount of time and work, and are all essentially "one-of-a-kind pieces" unto themselves. Most of the artwork here are items that I try to keep in stock as much as I can. That can vary a lot in availability and timing, yet if an item is not in stock it is still always listed as a "Created by Order" and/or "Made to Order" piece of art. I then make it as close as I can to the art displayed in the listing photos, so all the listing's here (unless specified otherwise) are standard designs available for purchase. The only fluctuations designs may have are mostly indiscernible minor variations on colors and parts, such as leaves... All designs here are standard pieces and part of the available art selection. If a piece is on hand when purchased it will ship pretty quick, but if it has to be created from the ground up, then it can take much longer to have it completed and ready to send.

Each piece goes through a quality control system before ever being sent so that they are each as good as can be before being shipped. Most of the art here are things I am much practiced on making and have honed over time to be beautiful efficient pieces of copper water fountain art along with other forms of art, but whatever the varying degrees of creation of art may be, they are all a labor of love and always worth the effort to make them as good as they can be.

That encompasses the majority of my work both here on etsy and in other places online, such as the home website: thecopperfountain.com

Custom Work:

It has been a challenging last few years for doing much custom work, art alterations and modifications, and until I finish some custom work orders, and other art projects, including personal art projects, it will remain a limited possibility. Typically custom work can be very time consuming and require special things and as such is quite expensive in general. Since I personally and as an artist, consider custom work a vast topic, please see the main website for more details on that subject that may be of help in answering many questions about the variety and types of custom work that can be done, as well as how such things are normally started and finished:

www.thecopperfountain.com/custom-work-1

Materials and Handcrafting Process:

All artwork is hand made from 100% percent high grade copper. They are strong, sturdy, and created with quality at the forefront; and since copper is a nearly timeless metal, my pieces are made to last many, many for years. I hand cut, shape, hammer, braze with a gas torch, sand, and use specialty acid applications and torch heated reactions for patina color contrasts. A few designs I like to add hints of limited colored paint too (for specific aesthetic accents such as the Lady Bugs) on the copper, but with exception of the clear gloss metal finish, all the variety of colors are produced entirely through chemical reactions on the metal.

Cost can vary a lot from one piece to the next, and prices can be more or less due to the extra time (and/or material) involved in making the art. Though some items may look similar in size, they can vary more dramatically or be more expensive due to other factors involved in their production. Though it's a little counter intuitive, when working in metal the smaller something is, the longer it takes to make it, and the more detail that tiny space of art has or needs in the small space, the longer it can take to create. (Conversely however, shipping can be much less in cost for smaller pieces).

Art Photography and Painting:

The photography I have here is limited by my phone's lens, in that it and the flash on it require an abundance of light before an image can be clearly seen (and so the photos for the copper art displayed here are taken with a different camera) but the phone camera does come in handy if I come across a scene I want to capture that could otherwise be gone before I have the chance. The paintings are very old and as such are near and dear to my heart so I have them up, but will be finishing some other new paintings when time permits between copper projects, and also put them here to share.

Extra Info for order and shipping timeframes:

Please see item descriptions for more product, availability and shipping info. If a special date or time is needed for your order, and/or you'd like an ETA on a certain item, please send me a message about it, so I can try to prioritize it for you, and/or try accommodate your needs as best as can be done or attempted to do. I am an individual artist and have no staff and will do my best to help and/or respond as soon as possible, but sometimes it is not possible or feasible for me to accomplish.

Covid-19 effects:

Copper is an expensive material and has gone up in price yet dropped in supply availability as a result of covid-19 and its after-effects, such as supply chain issues, yet I try to keep the overall prices as good as can be.

Summary:

Quality is always paramount, and I aim for that in each part of my art work and profession, in order to create at the end of a piece, something that brings enjoyment and relaxation to you and others and lasts for many, many years to come.

Thanks so much for stopping by and viewing my artwork!

Joseph Ward